Game Awards 2016, Nominees and News

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The 2016 Game Awards Ceremony will take place on December 1st at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The award show recognizes the best video games which came out before November 24. The concept was created only two years ago. The 2016 nominees were announced on Tuesday. Among them there are some huge games like Naughty Dog’s “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End”, Electronic Arts’ “Titanfall 2” or Blizzard Entertainment’s “Overwatch”.

Previews in “Let’s Play” format

According to the host and producer of the Game Awards, this year’s event will show presentations in a format close to the “Let’s Plays” which you can find on YouTube. The main idea is that people should know what to expect and not be fooled with CGI heavy trailers and good music. So this year, more gameplay will be shown as part of some games’ presentations.

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Avoid another “No Man’s Sky”

This decision came from last year’s “No Man’s Sky” situation. According to producer Geoff Keighley, most of the times, the trailers brought into award shows by game developers are not exactly what the player will find in game. And sometimes, the hype is so big for a certain release that the creators rush it. And they cannot live up to the expectations. So the game ends up being flawed, unfinished or all around bad.

In Keighley’s opinion, producers should let people know more about the state in which the game finds itself. Last year, after “No Man’s Sky” was released, critics totally destroyed it. They condemned the fact that the game did not resemble what was shown in the trailer. Moreover, there were various animals and environments which were shown to the public, but did not even exist in the final version of the game.

This year, Game Awards wants to avoid tricking the public. Keighley also compared what happened to “No Man’s Sky” to the situation of the “Suicide Squad” movie. It was so expected, the trailers were amazing and it had numerous cool and loved characters plus a lot of action. But when the movie came out everyone was disappointed because many of the scenes shown in the trailers did not even exist in the theatrical release. Plus, the critics gave it negative reviews.

Indie games are present too

But don’t think that only big games are going to be part of the Game Awards. The show recognizes not only big hits, but also smaller, indie games which were most of the times phenomenal. Apart from the big names which we mentioned in the beginning, there are also some other games which got the attention they deserved. Games like “Inside”, which is actually nominated for Game of the Year. Or “Firewatch” and “Hyper Light Drifter” which were praised by critics.

“Uncharted 4” and “Firewatch” are dominating the story and acting categories. And they rightfully do so because the producers have created some amazing, lively characters. Those were combined with amazing voice acting from some famous faces. This year, the Game Awards have extended their categories. They have added, among others, best VR game, eSports player or even trending gamer.